Passenger car for toy and model railroads



Dec. 15, 1970 M, ERNST 3,546,810

PASSENGER CAR FOR TOY AND MODEL RALILROADS Filed July 31, 1967 mmvron.

MA X ERA/5 T US. Cl. 46218 United States Patent 3,546,810 PASSENGER CAR FOR TOY AND MODEL RAILROADS Max Ernst, 14 Lohengrinstrasse, 85

' Nuremberg, Germany Filed July 31, 1967, Ser. No. 658,016 Claims priority, application Germany, Aug. 3, 1966,

E Int. Cl. A63h 19/16 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A passenger car for toy and model railroads with a car body made of synthetic material and consisting at least of two sections and equipped with trucks. Those portions of the toy passenger car body, which with a corresponding commercial vehicle are of different color, are respectively made as individual pieces of correspondingly colored and preferably injection or extension molded synthetic material, said individual pieces being composed Y to a unit by suitable methods and means as, e.g., clamping, cementing, connecting bolts, etc.

The present invention relates to a passenger car, especially express car for toy and model railroads.

Passenger cars for toy and model railroads are, as a rule, so manufactured that an upper portion comprising roof and side walls is placed upon and detachably connected to a framework provided with a front and rear truck. The vehicle upper portion consists of a one-piece cast member which is open at the bottom and which is placed on the vehicle frame and is detachably connected thereto by means of two connecting bolts forming one piece with the vehicle upper portion. The vehicle upper portion which may be injection molded of, for instance, a dark colored synthetic material as, for instance, polystyrol has its roof later provided with a silver coat, preferably by spraying. Furthermore, different colored portions of the vehicle as, for instance, doors, window frames, or the like, have to be marked by a special coat. The coating or painting of various parts of the vehicle after it has been injection molded has various drawbacks. The application of paint increases the manufacturing costs considerably and also sometimes causes waste. Moreover, a passenger car produced in ths way frequently lacks appeal and does not meet the requirements of the playing child. A further drawback of a passenger car produced in the above mentioned manner consists in that the relatively long side walls of the passenger car which consists of a thin synthetic material, especially of a fast train car, cannot be made sufiiciently stiff so that they will arch outwardly after the assembly has been made. In order to prevent such bulging, relatively expensive provisions have to be made.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a passenger car for toy and model railroads which will overcome the above mentioned drawbacks.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a passenger car, as set forth in the preceding paragraph, which will be a true imitation of commercial passenger cars.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a passenger car, as outlined above, which will make it possible easily to replace damaged portions of the car.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification, in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

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FIG. 1 illustrates a lower car section according to the present invention with inserted ballast weight.

FIG. 2 represents a portion of the lower car section shown in FIG. 1 with an additional frame portion connected thereto and carrying the buffers, the frame portion shown in FIG. 1 being illustrated as seen from the bottom.

FIG. 3 is a transverse section through the lower portion of the vehicle.

FIG. 4 illustrates a door adapted to be connected to the accordion section at the end faces of the lower vehicle portion.

FIG. 5 illustrates an accordion section provided with a bottom plate.

FIG. 6' represents a frame made of transparent synthetic material which is insertable into the lower vehicle section for imitating the glass portion of the vehicle.

FIG. 7 represents a car outer door which is adapted from the top to be interposed between the vehicle lower portion and the glass representing frame.

FIG. 8 illustrates the vehicle roof with three connecting pins adapted to be placed upon the lower vehicle portion.

FIG. 9 illustrates a bottom view of a portion of the roof shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a section taken along the line X--X of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a frame portion which carries the buffers and is adapted from below to be inserted into and connected to the end portions of the lower part of the vehicle.

FIG. 12 is one of the two trucks provided with a coupling hook and a connecting screw.

FIG. 13 is a structural member to be connected to the central portion of the vehicle bottom and also shows the connecting screw pertaining thereto.

The passenger vehicle according to the present invention is characterized primarily in that the structural members of the vehicle body which with commercial vehicles are of different colors, are preferably made of individual pieces of synthetic material and are adapted to be assembled by clamping, screwing, gluing, and the like.

In particular, according to the present invention, it is suggested to make the vehicle frame and the side walls of the passenger car of a single injection molded part of one and the same color and similarly to make the vehicle roof likewise of a single especially silver colored injection molded part. The vehicle roof may be detachably connected, preferably by screw connections to the onepiece vehicle lower part.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the passenger car illustrated in FIGS. l-13 represents in toy size, a fast train vehicle as it is used in natural size in Switzerland. In order to obtain as true an image as possible of such car, the vehicle parts of different colors are respectively produced as one-piece elements of synthetic material and of one color. Thus, for instance, the vehicle lower part 1 consisting of the vehicle frame and the side walls are made of a one-piece injection molded part of green color. Merely on the side walls the gold inscription which is found on the natural size cars and a plate with the destination are printed on or sprayed onto said side walls. A frame section 2 which carries the buffers is likewise made of a single piece injection molded part of black color and is connected or cemented to the front and rear end of the vehicle lower part 1.

FIG. 11 shows the upwardly extending pins 2a which are adapted to be inserted into corresponding openings at the bottom side of the lower carriage part.

For purposes of improving the driving properties, a ballast plate 3 of iron is mounted on the inside of the carriage bottom, said plate 3 being held in its position by the frame 16 shown in FIG. 6. In a manner known per se, the lower carriage part 1 has window cutouts 4 and at both end faces is provided with door cutouts 5. In the vicinity of the ends of the longitudinal sides there are provided door cutouts 6 for the double sliding doors which, with this vehicle type, are somewhat set back and are provided with a cover for the boarding steps. The two side walls of the lower part of the vehicle are extended downwardly (FIG. 3) by means of the rails 7 beyond the lower confinement of the vehicle bottom whereby the lower vehicle part is stiffened or reinforced. These rails or strips have their outer marginal portion rounded. The hollow studs 8 which have been mounted onto the bottom side of the lower part of the vehicle serve for journalling a truck illustrated in FIG. 12. Additional pins 9 which have likewise been formed onto the lower part of the vehicle serve as abutment for limiting the pivoting angle of the truck.

In order to realize as true an imitation of the commercial railroad vehicles and in particular of the doors at the end faces of the cars and at the accordion walks from one car to the next car, there are in conformity with FIGS. 4 and provided two injection molded parts. The door imitation shown in FIG. 4 comprises a plane plate 11 provided with a window cutout and consisting of a silver colored synthetic material which at both sides is provided with cutouts 12. FIG. 5 shows one-half of the accordion walk made of black synthetic material. Numeral 13 designates the foot plate in folded up condition, whereas the reference numeral 14 designates the pulled back cover. Formed onto the said cover are two rectangular ears 15 which fit into the recesses 12 of the door ele ment 11. When the elements illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 are engaging each other and when the cover 14 is from the inside inserted into the cutout 5 of the lower carriage part, these two parts, 11 and 14, may be held in their position by means of a frame of transparent synthetic material which comprises an imitation of all windows and doors. Such transparent synthetic material may, e.g., be the material known and sold under the trademark Plexiglas.

FIG. 6 shows this glass representing frame which is made of transparent synthetic material. The two longitudinal sides of the frame 16 are reinforced by braces 17 which are upwardly arched in the center. By means of the windows 18 which protrude somewhat outwardly, and which precisely fit into the corresponding cutouts 4 of the lower vehicle part 1, this frame 16 while slightly bending out the side walls may be inserted into the lower vehicle portion and may spring into the same. The two end faces 19 of the frame serve to provide the door openings 10 of the end doors 11 with glass. These two end faces 19 are set back relative to the inner surface of the vehicle lower part 1 by the thickness of the doors 11. After insertion of the frame 16, 19, the parts illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 and also the ballast weight 3 are held fast in their position within the lower part of the vehicle.

In the vicinity of the boarding doors, the lateral walls of the frames 16, 19, are somewhat offset inwardly at 20 and form the glass of the two narrow windows 21 of the two-part sliding door 22 which is shown as a single piece in FIG. 7. This imitation formed of silver gray synthetic material and representing a double sliding door has at its lower ends a rectangularly outwardly extending extension 23 which represents the stiff cover. The upper portion of this door imitation is somewhat wider than the door cutout 6 in the lower portion of the vehicle. The door is from above inserted between the side wall of the lower carriage provided with cylindrical connecting pins 26 having bores therein. The vehicle roof is designed in the manner of a lid for a pot while its outer circumference is flush with the circumference of the vehicle lower part 1 or its side walls and by means of inwardly set back marginal portion 27 extends into the lower portion of the vehicle. This marginal portion 27 is furthermore inwardly set back at 28 where the doors 22 are to be provided whereby recesses or chambers 28 are formed. After inserting the miniature entrance doors 22 and after the roof has been mounted on the lower part of the vehicle, the finished assembly of the vehicle may be effected by screwing three screws from the bottom side of the vehicle into the connecting bolts 26. With this finished assembly, at the same time also the structural element 29 illustrated in FIG. 13 and the two trucks 30 of gray injection mold material are connected to the bottom side of the carriage. The structural element 29 is provided with imitations of devices or the like customarily connected to the bottom of commercial vehicles to be represented by the respective toy vehicle. By means of a collar-shaped extension provided at the bottom side of the vehicle in the central portion thereof (not shown in FIG. 1), and by means of a corresponding depression 31 on the top side of the structural element 29 as well as by means of the rails 7 and possibly by further abutments, the structural element 29 can be held in its position by means of the screw 32 so as to be secured against turning. The two outer connecting bolts 26 on the roof are located coaxially with regard to the collar-shaped extensions 8 on the bottom side of the vehicle. Therefore, it is merely necessary for connecting the trucks, to select screws with such big heads that the trucks will be prevented from dropping. By correspondingly dimensioned depressions at the bottom side of the structural member 29 and the trucks 30 the screw heads can be inserted entirely or partially into the said structural elements.

For purposes of limiting the pivotal movement of the trucks, those ends of the trucks which face away from the coupling hook 33 may be provided with an abutment pin 34 which when turning the trucks will abut the counter abutment 9 at the bottom side of the lower vehicle part 1.

As will be evident from the above, the present invention makes possible the manufacture of a toy passenger car, especially an express car, in a particularly simple manner and at low cost. In view of the fact that a postpainting of the formed car is not necessary, the passenger car will have a high appeal and will represent a very true imitation of the respective commercial car. A further advantage of the invention consists in that a passenger car obtained in the above mentioned manner will also withstand a rough handling. If parts should be damaged, these parts can, in view of the structure of the vehicle, be easily replaced at low cost.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular construction shown in the drawing, but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

'1. A passenger car for toy and model railroads, comprising: a car body of synthetic material having portions of different colors in conformity with commercial full scale counterpart thereof including a predetermined color car roof while the car body has window cut outs and cut outs for insertable doors, a frame member of transparent material for glazing the window cut outs collectively inclusive of door window cut outs and fitted inside said car body, and predetermined colored doors provided for side and end wall insertion into car body cut outs complementary to said doors for which said transparent frame member is displaced inwardly at corresponding locations, said doors being positioned in the space existing between said car body and said glazing frame member which holds said doors in position.

2. A passenger car according to claim 1, in which said car body consists essentially of a car floor, side walls and end walls surrounding a one-color car undercarriage, said car body and said roof being connectable complementary to each other, said side walls of said car under-carriage having preferably downwardly open cut outs, and a deflectable marginal portion on an underside of the car roof relative to which said doors are held in position as slid into place from above into the downwardly open cut outs in location between said side walls and said glazing frame member deflectable to receive for entry said doors of particular colored synthetic material.

3. A passenger car according to claim 1, in which carto-car platform means are installed in end face cut outs of a car under-carriage and said platform means are replicas of decoupled full scale counterparts, and side-engageable ears provided on said platform means and complementary to engageable cut outs of said doors in replica of full scale counterparts thereof.

4. A passenger car according to claim 1, in which three connecting pins project down from a underside of said car roof to a floor of a car under-carriage, each connecting pin having a bore at a lower end thereof, fastener means connecting said car under-carriage to said car roof by engagement into the bore of respective connecting pins,

vided for journalling said rotatable trucks at an underside of the car, said fastener means for securing said car roof also serving to hold said rotatable trucks in pivotal assembled relationship.

5. A passenger car according to claim 1, which includes injection molded buffer carrying means respectively forming individual pieces connected to end portions of said car body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,988,755 1/1935 Smith 46218X 2,599,138 6/1952 Stewart 462l8X 2,610,442 9/1952 Bonanno 46-218 2,779,133 1/1957 Zion 46218 3,046,696 7/1962 Zion 46218 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,081,364 5/1960 Germany 46223UX OTHER REFERENCES German Auslegeschrift Ser. No. 1,222,417, Marklin & Cie, printed Aug. 4, 1966.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner 

